Saturday, May 17 is this year’s Big Day for DOAS. (CORRECTED DATE)

The Big Day is a group effort in which birders, working alone, in pairs, or in small groups, can maintain social distance and adopt infection-avoidance procedures while enjoying the outdoors. We will try to locate as many bird species as we can in a single fun day. Birders can spend any amount of time they choose within that 24 hours, and report on their efforts to the Big Day coordinator, Charlie Scheim.

Everyone is welcome, novice or experienced.  If you are interested and have not participated before, please contact Charlie at 607-434-4880 (voice or text) or scheimc@hartwick.edu to get information on joining in the fun.

DOAS Bird Checklist – revised 2020.

DOAS BIG DAY BIRD COUNT RULES (Modified from ABA):

A Big Day Count is a single-team effort in which the primary objectives are (1) to identify as many bird species as possible during a single calendar day and (2) to strive to have all team members identify all species recorded.

Counting

1. Count only species listed in a recognized field guide.
2. Birds must be conclusively identified by sight or sound. Use common sense: if in doubt about the bird’s identity, don’t count it.
3. An introduced species may be counted. 
4. Birds counted must be alive, wild, and unrestrained. Domestic species are not to be included. Birds attracted to tape-recorders or feeders may be counted. Injured birds may be counted if wild and unrestrained. Eggs do not count as birds.

Time – All counting must be within a single 24-hour period, on a single calendar day, determined by where the Count begins or ends.

Area– Any geographic area within the region served by DOAS may be covered. A team’s coverage area may overlap that of other teams.

Travel – Travel may be by any means, provided that all participants remain within direct voice-contact distance during all travel (except for separate motorized travel or for “timeouts” for gas, food, rest, etc.).

Participants

1. Any number of participants may constitute a team.
2. Nonparticipating companions may accompany the team and may record or may drive vehicles. 

Conduct

Each participant must:

1. remain within direct voice-contact distance of all other participants at all times, except during time-outs.
2. make every reasonable effort to identify personally and to help other team members identify every species counted by the team.
3. count only birds personally and unquestionably identified.
4. review the Big Day Count Rules before the start of the Count.

Outside Information

1. During the Count, teams must make every reasonable effort to avoid receiving bird-finding help from nonparticipants.
2. Any information received prior to the Count may be used during the Count.
3. Ethics– Each participant should strive to maintain proper birding ethics at all times.

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Join DOAS on Tuesday, May 20 from 8:00-10:00am at Hartwick College’s Pine Lake Environmental campus in Davenport Center. Suzanne Gaynor and Jane Bachman will lead the walk. We can expect warblers, ducks, other songbirds, and possible Bald Eagles who nest nearby.

Meet at 8am in the Pine Lake parking lot at 1894 Charlotte Creek Rd, Oneonta, NY.

This will be a 1 1/2-mile walk past a variety of habitats including Pine Lake, Charlotte Creek, woods, a swamp, and open field. There is one moderate climb and much of the walking is on uneven woodland trails. Sturdy footwear is recommended. A restroom is available at the start and end of the walk.

Contact Suzanne Gaynor at 607-435-2939 for more information. No pre-registration required.

Image: Yellow Warbler on native Willow Tree by Keith Williams, Flickr CC(NC2.0)

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Join DOAS for a bird walk on Sunday, May 25 at 8am at the West Branch Preserve, located in the Town of Hamden, about 10 miles southeast of Delhi. Charlie Scheim and Sandy Bright will lead the walk.

Meet at 8 AM at the preserve entrance and parking area, on NY Rt10, about 0.9 miles west of the intersection with County Route 26. The parking area is adjacent to the Watershed Agricultural Council building at 33195 NY-10. The walk will be on unpaved and at times uneven paths through the fields and forests of the Preserve and will likely last about 1.5 hours.

There will be a certain amount of moderate uphill and downhill walking. There are no restrooms at the preserve and no resting benches along the path. See website below for more information. https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/places-we-protect/eny-west-branch-nature-preserve/?en_txn1=bl.ch_ny.eg.x.g

The walk will be on unpaved and at times uneven paths through the fields and forests of the Preserve and will likely last about 1.5 hours. There will be a certain amount of moderate uphill and downhill walking. There are no restrooms at the preserve and no resting benches along the path.

For more information, contact Charlie Scheim at 607-434-4880 or scheimc@hartwick.edu.

Image: Scarlet Tanager, Photographer Unknown.

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Join DOAS Director Charlie Scheim, Bird Sightings author Sandy Bright, and the Environmental Director of the Uplands Center Renee Hardenkamp for a morning bird walk at the Uplands Center in Walton, NY (2641 Dunk Hill Road) on Saturday, June 7 at 8:00am. Our focus will be on observing birds and their breeding behaviors., will accompany us on this walk. The Uplands Center (www.uplandscenter.org) has acres of fields and forests, great habitat for breeding birds. We will meet just outside the main lodge. The walk will begin on a mostly level grassy path through a large field where we will likely find a number of grassland species. We will then follow a path through a wooded area with some gentle uphills and downhills, seeking woodland inhabitants. There are accessible rest rooms at the walk’s beginning and end and some rest spots along the way. The walk will likely last about an hour and a half. This program is free and there is no pre-registration required. You may call Charlie Scheim at 607-434-4880 for more information or for any last minute weather concerns.

Image: Bobolink; photo by Jennifer Hyypio.

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